Back Home

Background

On August 15, 2005, a coded message appeared on Fort Minor's website saying, "The Rising Tied contains a song called Back Home. It features Styles of Beyond and Common, although the four vocalists are not all from the same home city. This song was an opportunity to reflect on what gives their respective home towns identity and in doing so discover the similarities."

In late 2006, Clear Channel Music posted the entire The Rising Tied album complete with commentaries from Mike Shinoda before each song. On "Back Home", he said, "On this next song, ‘Back Home’, it was really great to get in the studio with Common. I had met him on a bunch of different occasions, and uhm, he always just seemed to be a real nice guy, like the.. we always just seem to get along, and have funny conversations, and talk about… get off on weird subjects and all that. This beat for some reason just.. it wanted to have Common on it, I played him the song and he’s like: “Oh, let me get on that one”."

On the Making of The Rising Tied DVD, Mike talks about having Common come to the studio when he was making the album. He said, "The song "Back Home" is about the less publicized version of where we come from. Common being from Chicago, and me and SOB being from LA. The version of LA that you usually hear about doesn't include Little Tokyo and Koreatown and Alverado Street and The Valley and Pasadena. So we wanted to stay true to those things about LA."

He added, "When Common came in to record "Back Home", he played me his soon-to-be released album which was entitled "Be" and I played him tracks from my record. It was pretty funny because I think we spent more time kicking back and just talking than we actually did recording. Common's a pretty deep dude and even though we don't agree on everything, we tend to have some pretty interesting conversations."

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Back Home	The Rising Tied	3:44	2005	November 22, 2005	Features vocals by Common and Styles Of Beyond.
Back Home	The Rising Tied (Non-PA Version)	3:44	2005	November 22, 2005	Censored. Different vocal take. Different lyrics.
Back Home	Instrumental Album: The Rising Tied	3:47	2005		Official instrumental version.

Lyrics

Album Version

Uh! Yeah...yo,
We about to take ya'll to the tip, to the crib...
Let's do it Mike!

Yeah!

Back home (back home),
Everybody's searching for somethin',
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin',
Back home (back home),
Ain't nobody hopin' and prayin',
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em,
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact,
That life goes black when those lights go out,
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own,
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home! (Back home)

Back home, they holler "disciple" and "blackstone",
Same block they freebase yo we trapped on,
Where our grandmothers marched, the guns clap on,
There's liquor stores, beauty supplies, and rap songs,
I travel the world just to come back to it,
The crib got a lot of soul like black music,
I'm attached to it,
In many ways the city raised me, and gave me,
The drama, honor, and bravery,
The streets seem hollow, when I go to Chicago,
It's cheap wine and sorrow,
Times is hard to swallow,
In search of God's tomorrow, I borrow words from the,
Bible, and use them for survival, gangs rival,
Signs painted on walls like hieroglyphics,
I tell 'em that this is all tribal,
Used to do dirt, shorty's goin' through the same cycle,
And trials like Michael, tryin' not to stay idle!

Back home (back home),
Everybody's searching for somethin',
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin',
Back home (back home),
Ain't nobody hopin' and prayin',
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em,
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact,
That life goes black when those lights go out,
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own,
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home! (Back home)

Back home it's not Compton but close,
The same problems exist and the pain throbbin',
And folks are so common,
It don't, really bother us much we just swallow it (uh!),
Crack the bottle and smoke, hope tomorrow something,
Magical happens that'll put me back in the biz,
But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim,
Back home, we get the good life at a glimpse,
In the form of a rap star, drug dealers, and pimps,
I'm back home!

Back home, I try my best to keep it together it's cold, (cold)
Like the Windy City streets of December,
I pace back and forth, looking for the courage to shine,
But can't tap the source, need something to nourish my mind,
I know we all lose quite a bit in life,
Only to gain some,
Life of the dark winding roads we came from,
But I move with the night, so I'm used to the shade,
And never lose sight, bringing truth back to the game!

Back home, we've got a lot of shit on our minds,
We're always behind on something cause there's not enough time,
And we're non-stop, bottom line, doing what we gotta do,
To get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hospital,
Back home there's people calling us hopeless,
People trying to tell us all we need is some focus,
But focus,
Focus is overrated,
Cause you see every blemish and mistake and can't change it,
Back home is Alvarado, K-Town and J-Town,
Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know,
Where figures shiver, living right in the litter,
Where kids write bigger, right inside the LA river,
On the concrete, a symbol of our everyday way,
Its that color and concentration over heavy and grey,
And by the time the ink dries on this page,
I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay!

Back home (back home),
Everybody's searching for somethin',
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin',
Back home (back home),
Ain't nobody hopin' and prayin',
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em,
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact,
That life goes black when those lights go out,
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own,
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home! (Back home)

We takin it back home ya'll,
Yeah it's Common Sense (yeah!),
My guy Mike (what up Com'?),
S.O.B. (uh-huh),
Yeah, this is how we rotate,
It's good music (ha ha ha),
Hip-hop (don't stop!), yeah
Uh, it's home for me baby...yeah!

Non-PA Version

Uh! Yeah...yo,
We about to take ya'll to the tip, to the crib...
Let's do it Mike!

Yeah!

Back home (back home),
Everybody's searching for somethin',
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin',
Back home (back home),
Ain't nobody hopin' and prayin',
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em,
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact,
That life goes black when those lights go out,
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own,
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home! (Back home)

Back home, they holler "disciple" and "blackstone",
Same block they freebase yo we trapped on,
Where our grandmothers marched, the [...] clap on,
There's liquor stores, beauty supplies, and rap songs,
I travel the world just to come back to it,
The crib got a lot of soul like black music,
I'm attached to it,
In many ways the city raised me, and gave me,
The drama, honor, and bravery,
The streets seem hollow, when I go to Chicago,
It's cheap wine and sorrow,
Times is hard to swallow,
In search of God's tomorrow, I borrow words from the,
Bible, and use them for survival, gangs rival,
Signs painted on walls like hieroglyphics,
I tell 'em that this is all tribal,
Used to do dirt, shorty's goin' through the same cycle,
And trials like Michael, tryin' not to stay idle!

Back home (back home),
Everybody's searching for somethin',
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin',
Back home (back home),
Ain't nobody hopin' and prayin',
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em,
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact,
That life goes black when those lights go out,
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own,
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home! (Back home)

Back home it's not Compton but close,
The same problems exist and the pain throbbin',
And folks are so common,
It don't, really bother us much we just swallow it (uh!),
Crack the bottle and smoke, hope tomorrow something,
Magical happens that'll put me back in the biz,
But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim,
Back home, we get the good life at a glimpse,
In the form of a rap star, [...] dealers, and [...],
I'm back home!

Back home, I try my best to keep it together it's cold, (cold)
Like the Windy City streets of December,
I pace back and forth, looking for the courage to shine,
But can't tap the source, need something to nourish my mind,
I know we all lose quite a bit in life,
Only to gain some,
Life of the dark winding roads we came from,
But I move with the night, so I'm used to the shade,
And never lose sight, bringing truth back to the game!

Back home, we've got a lot of things on our minds,
We're always behind on something cause there's not enough time,
And we're non-stop, bottom line, doing what we gotta do,
To get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hospital,
Back home there's people calling us hopeless,
People trying to tell us all we need is some focus,
But focus,
Focus is overrated,
Cause you see every blemish and mistake and can't change it,
Back home is Alvarado, K-Town and J-Town,
Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know,
Where figures shiver, living right in the litter,
Where kids write bigger, right inside the LA river,
On the concrete, a symbol of our everyday way,
Its that color and concentration over heavy and grey (and grey),
And by the time the ink dries on this page,
I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay!

Back home (back home),
Everybody's searching for somethin',
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin',
Back home (back home),
Ain't nobody hopin' and prayin',
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em,
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact,
That life goes black when those lights go out,
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own,
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home! (Back home)

We takin it back home ya'll,
Yeah it's Common Sense (yeah!),
My guy Mike (what up Com'?),
S.O.B. (uh-huh),
Yeah, this is how we rotate,
It's good music (ha ha ha),
Hip-hop (don't stop!), yeah
Uh, it's home for me baby...yeah!